Watch Sigourney Weaver Fight Aliens in Neill Blomkamp's Rakka Short

1 year ago

Last month, filmmaker Neill Blomkamp announced a new slate of experimental short films that he will be making under his new venture Oats Studios. The filmmaker had been teasing the first installment of this venture throughout last month, titled Rakka, with the trailer featuring a glimpse at one of these alien creatures, along with a brief look at Sigourney Weaver, who was originally supposed to star in the director’s Alien 5 project before it was taken off of 20th Century Fox’s development slate. Today, we have the full 21-minute short film, along with more details on how you can support Oats Studios.

Rakka is the story of broken humanity following the invasion of a technologically superior alien species. Bleak harrowing and unrelenting, the humans we meet must find enough courage to go on fighting. The short film opens with a narrator explaining that these aliens came to Earth in order to exterminate humanity, with the first few scenes showcasing these alien creatures turning humans into slaves, whipping them constantly as they carry materials to the alien ship. The narrator also reveals that the aliens covered our landmarks in “dying humanity,” with a shot of the Eiffel Tower covered with decaying human remains.

The opening moments of this Oats Studios short also reveal these aliens built structures that spew methane into the atmosphere, which replicates their own environment, making it almost impossible to survive. However, there is a group that has survived, lead by Jasper (Sigourney Weaver). Their group has managed to build devices that prevent the aliens from hacking into a human’s brain, as we see how the aliens manage to do just that, trying to use one of the human politicians against the rest of humanity. The humans do manage to achieve a minor victory, although at a big cost.

This sci-fi short isn’t exactly a full short with a cohesive beginning, middle and end, but this alien-infested world is presented in three parts, with the first introducing these aliens, known as The Klum, along with the resistance lead by Jasper. The second part follows two more characters, Nosh (Brandon Auret) and Amir (Eugene Khumbanyiwa). Nosh was seen briefly in the first segment, described by the narrator as a bomb-making pyromaniac who would have been locked up in the “old world,” but he is now “flourishing” in this post-apocalyptic world. Amir, on the other hand, is one of the aliens’ human prisoners who has been severely mutated by the aliens’ experiments.

The third part of this short follows Jasper and her soldiers fighting against their alien enemies, who are revealed to have telepathic powers. This short film is meant to be expanded upon, which fans can help Oats Studios achieve by supporting the film through the Oats Studios partnership with the streaming service Steam. Fans can purchase an assets package on Steam for $4.99, which includes a Downloadable video file of Rakka including a 5.1 surround sound mix, Rakka Concept Art, Rakka Scripts and Rakka 3D Models. Neill Blomkamp directed Rakka from a script he co-wrote with Thomas Sweterlitsch. Take a look at the full short film below, and visit the Oats Studios Steam page for more information, and to purchase an assets pack.